National team
Palma gets first Italy call-up to replace injured Mancini
Udinese centre-back Matteo Palma, a former German Under-18 international, has been picked for Italy's Nations League squad.
Golviva NewsroomUpdated
Italy coach Roberto Mancini has called up Udinese centre-back Matteo Palma, 18, for the Nations League. It is Palma's first senior call-up. He replaces Gianluca Mancini, who has a muscle strain and remains with AS Roma.
Palma previously played for Germany at Under-18 level. Corriere dello Sport reports that FIFA has approved his change of nationality, and La Gazzetta dello Sport says the Italian federation had been working on the move for several weeks. Kicker reports that the German federation will not get him.
According to Tuttosport, the squad is for the matches against Belgium and France. Palma has made six appearances for Udinese this season and scored once.
FootVal's valuation of €10.8m is above his market value of €8m on Transfermarkt.
Sources
This article is based on reports by:
- La Gazzetta dello Sport — Mancini allunga la lista: prima chiamata nell'Italia per Palma, è addio all'opzione Germania
- Corriere dello Sport — Continua la linea verde dell'Italia: Roberto Mancini convoca Palma dell'Udinese al posto di Gianluca Mancini
- Football Italia — Palma gets first Italy call after representing Germany at U18 level
- TuttoMercatoWeb — Italia, prima convocazione azzurra per Matteo Palma: sostituirà l'infortunato Gianluca Mancini
- kicker — DFB geht leer aus: Palma läuft künftig für Italien auf
- Tuttosport — Palma convocato da Mancini con l'Italia: il cambio di nazionalità e la serata horror contro la Juve
- Transfermarkt — Italien schnappt DFB Talent Matteo Palma weg: Für Nations League nominiert
Written by the Golviva newsroom from the reports below, with figures from Golviva’s own database. Spotted a mistake? Tell us. · How we report
